A Choice Between SD or HD Game Clients

Two Client Choices

In the near future, you’ll be able to choose between two different clients for World of Tanks: the Standard Client (SD) and an HD Client (beta). Both clients give you the same game, but the SD Client will take up less disk space, making updating quicker and easier. The HD Client will take up more disk space and is targeted at those of you who like to play the game on the highest settings.

Here's how they'll differ:

Standard Client – A new version of the World of Tanks game client that requires less hard drive space because it does not include the maximum resolution textures for the vehicle models.

HD Client – This client will include textures for game objects in all resolutions, including the maximum quality textures. Otherwise identical to the Standard Client, the HD Client will take up more hard drive space and require a 64-bit operating system.

We’ve made this change because not all tankers use the highest graphical settings and downloading the SD Client will allow them to save space. For those players that do play on the highest settings, they’ll still be able to get the best visual experience by downloading the larger HD Client. Separating the two allows players that don’t need the highest resolution graphics to save on hard drive space.

Texture Quality Settings in Update 9.8

SD Client

HD Client

Low

Medium

High

Maximum

Selecting the Client Type During Installation

Note: Only players running a 64-bit operating system can install the HD Client (beta). If you have a 32-bit operating system, you will be unable to choose the HD Client (beta).

When installing the test version of the 9.8 update, players will be prompted to select the game client to install.

You can change the client type at any time. To do so, run the game launcher and select the desired version of the client. Once you confirm your choice, the launcher will either start downloading the required files (when switching from the SD Client to the HD Client) or change the game client to the SD version (when switching from HD Client to SD Client) without downloading any additional files. In the latter case, the game client size will decrease.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Question: Will the two versions of the client require separate game mods?

Answer: This change should not affect third-party game modifications. Though it bears repeating that we do not guarantee the performance of a modified game client.

2. Question: Will the game client type have to be selected at every update?

Answer: The launcher will download updates for the previously selected game client type. Players will be able to change the client type even after installation, if needed.

3. Question: How much will the size of the installed game client decrease, if the Standard (SD) Client is selected?

Answer: The installed game client will drop in size by approximately 6 GB. The downloaded client version will decrease by 3 GB.

4. Question: Why is there “beta” in the name of HD Client?

Answer: Currently, the HD Client is called beta as high resolution content of the game is still in development and constantly increasing.